Without A Friend
by EnchantedWorlds
Summary: "It's good. Just because it's Jackie. It wouldn't be good, if it wasn't her. It's so fucking good. So of course, it only stands to reason, that he completely fucking torpedoes it." Jackie makes a habit of visiting Hyde at the hotel, when he's at work. Until she doesn't.


**Disclaimer:** _That '70s Show_ copyright The Carsey-Werner Company, LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC

 **A/N:** So, I've been rewatching the show, as you do, got to season 5 and most of this fic was written in one sitting a few days ago. This takes place between 5x18 and 6x03 timeline-wise. I have a longer project, I'm trying to work on, but I had a lot of fun writing this, and hopefully you'll enjoy it.

* * *

The first time, it happens it catches him completely off guard. Hyde isn't rattled easy, but he's not above admitting that. It's about twenty minutes before the restaurant at the hotel is shutting down tonight, and he really doesn't have to do much at this point. Most people who come by this late, are usually just looking for a quick drink before heading to bed, and Hyde isn't the one who's responsible for the dishes. The whole hotel is usually dead by now.

So yeah, it surprises him that first night, two weeks after he gets the job, when Roy opens the door to the kitchen to tell him 'the nice girl' is here to see him. From his description, he really should have guessed who it was but somehow, he doesn't expect Jackie to be sitting on a barstool, twirling a bright pink drink umbrella between her fingers. "Huh?" Hyde said as he walked up to her. Jackie looked up at him to greet him with a small smile. "When Roy said nice, I didn't expect you," he said, as he leant against the counter opposite her.

"Oh, I am _so_ nice!" Jackie fired back, but there wasn't any real annoyance behind her words. They shared a quick look, which made her huff. "Alright, maybe I could be nicer, but whatever," she relented, making him smirk.

"What are you doing here, baby?" he asked, adding the nickname only, because the only other person currently at the bar was what looked like a middle-aged accountant at the other end of it. The man kind of had a dead inside stare directed at the gin and tonic in his hand. Unsurprising for someone who looked like an accountant, if you asked Hyde.

"I just-" she started, her hand warm against his, where it was placed on the counter. Her fingers interlocked with his, and he'd stopped pretending to mind her holding his hand like that. He drew a clear line at a lot of other mushy crap, but this he didn't mind. She looked at him with a small, almost unsure smile. "I missed you, and wanted to see how you were doing," her voice suddenly very sincere.

"What's your ulterior motive?" Hyde quipped back, because honestly, he wasn't used to something so genuine and honest. That was always the thing with her. Things like telling him, she loved him before the Valentine dance. It had been nice to hear her say that then, but other times it was kind of terrifying with things like that. Things in that league. She made a face at him, and quickly redrew her hand.

"Ugh, you're so annoying," she said, slapping his arm. She always so dramatically annoyed, that it was almost funny. The not funny part would be, if she thought he was serious, because then he'd have to deal with Jackie being mad, probably at least all of tomorrow. There's also a part of him, that really wants to reassure her, that he's just joking but he doesn't really want to think about that part.

"Hey, relax, I'm kidding," he promised, meeting her eyes and immediately seeing her sort of feel surer of herself and calmer. There was a long pause, where Jackie picked up her drink umbrella again to twirl. "Look, man you know I suck at this crap, but this is cool, alright?"

"You actually mean that?" Jackie asked sounding a little surprised, and he kind of hates that she doesn't completely believe him.

"Yeah. Beats pretending to work out back," Hyde retorted with a grin, making her stifle a laugh before she leant in over the counter to press a peck against his mouth.

* * *

So, it becomes a semi-regular thing, Jackie hanging out at the hotel in the last half hour or so, before Hyde's shift ends and he can go home. It's not every single day, if Hyde asked Jackie would probably say, she had better things to do. But it's maybe two or three times every week, and it's nice. In fact, it's a lot more than just nice, but he's not Forman, so he's not going to get started on something that mushy.

Sometimes, they sit by the bar and just talk. Usually, they're making fun of whatever guests are in the restaurant, who can't hear them from where they sit. Other times, if there's a little more work, she'll hang out back in the kitchen and be confused by literally everything, he's doing. There's a part of him, that almost wants to teach her, if this lasts long enough, just so she doesn't actually burn her parents' house or the Formans' house down, if she ever decides cooking isn't just for poor people. But he packs that thought away, he might be her boyfriend, but thinking about being her boyfriend for a while, a while longer than this, is too much. Roy still thinks she is the nicest woman, he's ever met, which is just a laughable concept in itself, even after that night where Hyde decides to teach her how to play Poker, and they team up to beat Roy. They don't play for money that night, which annoys Jackie, but would have probably made Roy cry, if he lost.

Then her mom splits, and she's around more, maybe four times a week instead of two. Once Hyde's shift is done, Jackie will wrap his arm around her shoulder like she always does. They'll make out in the El Camino for a bit, before driving back to the Formans, crawling into bed next to each other in Hyde's room. It's fun, and it's nice and there's a part of him that could get used to this. Her kissing him goodnight every single night, before settling against him to fall asleep.

Even after, the Formans find out and he has to settle for kissing her goodnight in the Pinciottis' driveway, it's good. Just because it's Jackie. It wouldn't be good, if it wasn't her. It's so fucking good. So of course, it only stands to reason, that he completely fucking torpedoes it.

* * *

After, Hyde feels like shit. He feels like shit, even before he finds out that his supposed reason for doing this was non-existent. But it only becomes worse after. Everyone else points out that Hyde's a complete idiot, and normally his friends messing around in his business would piss him off, but he's inclined to agree with them. He tells her, he loves her anyway. Not because he actually seriously thinks, it's going to fix anything. But he wants to tell her, it feels important to tell her, so that's what he does.

Predictably, it doesn't fix anything. Then there's graduation, Fez marries Laurie to avoid getting deported and Red has a heart attack. With all the crap going on, it doesn't hit him until about three days later at work, that Jackie hasn't hung out at the hotel for two weeks. Not since before they had that fight about her hanging out with Kelso alone. A fight that feels so fucking stupid now, that if the government was hiding a time machine, which they probably were, he'd go back in time and punch himself in the head.

Even with Kelso and Forman still working at the hotel, and Roy to cheer up, it feels like a hell hole. He didn't realize, how big of a part Jackie had become of his everyday life, until she's notably not there anymore. It doesn't exactly help, that he's the one who blew this thing between them up.

Jackie isn't around at all, which should theoretically make him feel less like dirt, because at least he doesn't have to see her every day. Not having to be confronted with just how badly he fucked this really good thing between them every single day, should make it easier to deal with. She accepted an offer to go to some resort with her mom in Florida, according to Donna. Which really just underlines how sick Jackie had to be of both him and Kelso, even if she was the one who tried to make them compete against each other on the camping trip.

But it doesn't help at all, he just annoyingly enough misses her having around, even though he knows he's still the real asshole here. So, he tries to go out with a couple of chicks he meets at the Hub, because it's not like Jackie is gonna come running back from Florida to him anyhow. But it just makes him feel even more like dirt. And it's a long fucking summer.

* * *

The first couple of days after, he and Jackie finally work things out in the Formans' driveway, it almost feels like a trip. A good trip, but a trip nonetheless. Sure, she's been trying to rile him up for the past week with things like the toe ring, but it still feels surreal that she's actually here, that they're actually okay, and she still wants to be with him. He even mostly accepts her calling him Puddin' Pop, because fuck he's missed her. Plus, if it is just a bad trip, then nobody would probably have heard her say that, once he comes down and reality hits like a freight train.

Reality does hit, two days after their argument in the driveway, when he's working at the hotel. It's about 9 pm, when Eric came into the kitchen with a tray full of mugs, the doors swinging shut behind him. "God, and to think I had almost forgotten the devil used to come here all the time," Forman said, clearly mostly talking to himself.

"Jackie's here?" he asked, and something expanded in his chest. Forman directed a look at him. Hyde was pretty sure he was almost smiling, and he quickly turned his expression into a scowl.

"What?" Eric replied, almost looking like he was laughing, but also clearly not entirely sure if he could get away with it. "Did Hyde- um, miss his little girlfriend?" Forman asked.

"Get bent!" Hyde fired back making sure to flip Forman off, even though he was already half way out of the kitchen door. Forman did say something back, but it was unintelligible through the now closed door. Hyde also really didn't care, whatever the hell Forman was going to say. She was sitting on a barstool as she had been that first day, a little more than a week after he had agreed to take this job. Jackie was rested her head in her hands but looked up at the sound of the door shutting and smiled brightly. Whatever had inflated inside of his chest just got about 5 sizes bigger, and now he definitely didn't mind letting the small grin show on his face.

"Hi," Jackie said, meeting his eyes as he paused next to her. She'd turned the barstool, so she was facing him. Hyde should have probably stayed behind the bar, since he was working. But then again, he wasn't the bartender. He just looked at her for a moment. Her hair was done up in a ponytail, she was wearing bell bottoms and a flowy top, and she was smiling practically with her entire body, as mushy as that sounded. And it hit him how real this actually was. She was here, and his shitty summer of self-inflicted hell was actually over, and she was here.

Instead of saying anything, he just bent his head slightly to kiss her. Less than he usually would have had to, because Jackie was sitting on the stool. She responded immediately, snaking her arms around his neck and kissing him back eagerly. He licked into her mouth, and Jackie's fingers moved from his hair to his cheeks. They stayed together for a long moment, before Jackie slowly pulled away from him, her hands still on his face. Her thumb was brushing against his cheek. "Hey," he finally said, as they pulled away from each other.

"Steven-" Jackie said, her entire face practically glowing, sort of giggling as she was talking. It actually felt kind of nice, knowing he was part of the reason, she looked so happy. And if past Hyde could hear him think that, he'd probably punch him. Which would be fair enough. "What was that for?"

"I- um, I just missed you, man," he replied, sliding back into Zen as quickly as possible. Maybe, he could admit to himself, that he didn't mind being called Puddin' Pop, as much as he thought he did. But there was a line, a very clearly defined line.

"Steven," Jackie replied, and the smile on her face looked sort of disbelieving. "You only left for work three hours ago."

"Yeah, well-" he said without looking at her. Jackie just beamed at him, and eagerly took the hand he offered her. She practically skipped after him on their way back to the kitchen. Hyde doesn't finish the thought out loud. How he'd been thinking about, how she'd been gone all summer, or how shit it had felt knowing it was entirely his fault. How it almost felt unreal, like a trip to see her sit by the bar, and actually be here. He doesn't finish the thought with what he almost said. _Felt longer._


End file.
